Information, tips, ideas A-Z…

Artwork Store 4-5 canvases together, in boxes or on racks, don’t use plastic to wrap; Hang from both sides. Leave empty spaces between pictures. The less pictures you hang the closer they should be. A big picture in a small space helps. Several small pics vertically give sense of height

Baby/ children clothes banks (local, check online first) Love North Southwark; Little Village; The Small Project

Batteries Store in two boxes labelled: old/recycle and okay 

Books Can arrange for collection, usually free if boxed up; Scan barcodes or insert ISBN on websites to get a quote; Some places recycle the books they can’t sell; Make sure you know where and when the local collection is; Try local libraries, schools.

Boxes Donate used ones to local allotments for compost bins to lay beds over winter

Bras Post to www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/recycling/bra-recycling

Candles Can be recycled (see online); Melt down the ends to make new ones

Clothes/ damaged clothes Recycle unwanted/old/stained clothes at participating stores; Textile recycling bank; Some clothes charities also take them to be recycled

Coins Banks; Valuations: check online

Clothes Mix one part vodka one part water to spray and purify clothes; Careful that lavender bags don’t touch clothes; Clothes cupboards need space; Avoid clothes clutter in corners

Computer Check online for local computer wipe/fix/donate sites

Craft If you can’t complete your craft project, find a volunteer from www.looseendsproject.org/

Disposal, local Clothes, shoes, accessories, electrical appliances, furniture, toys, books, IT, Kitchen, ben linen, pictures, cosmetics, garden can usually be disposed of locally, check facebook groups and other online sites

Duvets Dunelm; Animal rescue centres; BHF; Alpkit if down-filled

DVD Nursing homes; Schools for craft and collage projects

Electrical Look out for local drop off stations; Take to your recycling centre; Search online for organisations who can collect; Curry’s take back electricals to be recycled.

Food Olio: open the app, add photo/ description/ when and where the item is available for pick-up

Furniture IKEA has a buy back scheme; Upcycle it

Hangers Recycle; Charity shops; Dry cleaners

Kitchen items Turntables; Pot lid holders; Drawer dividers; Stackable storage

Lego Online options, you can weigh your Lego to get a quote; Share/sell on local community groups

Makeup and Toiletries Check on back of the packaging for a symbol stating how long it will last once opened; Try your local Tesco, Boots, Superdrug, John Lewis for make-up drop off recycling stations

Medicine Return to chemist for safe disposal (check first); Empty packs can be recycled at most Superdrug and Boots (check first); Medical things e.g. braces, medical appliances and other medical equipment: www.orthocycle.org

Memory boxes Are a good way of keeping track and in control of sentimental items

Moths Look online for products; Keep cupboards aired; Avoid clothes clutter in corners

Moving home, how many boxes to expect 1 bed  20-25 boxes; 2 bed  25-40; 3 bed  40-60; 4 bed 60-100; 5 bed 100-150

Office clothes Good condition work clothes: donate to Dress for Success

Paperwork What to keep after someone has died: https://www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of-someone-who-died/records?fbclid=IwAR35HOeA5VhpQYi69NKeaw2S7mQDjIfj5D-tQvHj9tNG1TCLc5JudEzTy8w

Piano Schools; Railway station; Local music shops

Pens Keep them together, sort regularly, donate by post to pensforkids.co.uk; Donate at local schools

Recycling guidelines (2022) PET (water bottles and condiment containers) Easy to recycle; HDPE (shampoo bottles and milk jugs) Easy to recycle; PVC (plastic pipes) Hard to recycle; LDPE (some plastic bags) Can be recycled; PP (yogurt and sour cream containers) Can be recycled; PS (takeout food boxes and coffee cups) Hard to recycle; 0 (ev thing else, nylon, acrylic, fiberglass) Hard to recycle.

Repairs Repair week: Londonrecycles.co.uk (11-17 March); Find local repair cafes,

Sheets Local schools as backdrops for plays; Bedding for vets and animal shelters; Homeless charities

Stamps (used) https://www.againstbreastcancer.org.uk/recycling/used-stamps/

S: Stamps (collections) If you want to re-sell, look for: before 1960, vibrant colours, good condition, higher face value, with writing (e.g. still on postcard), organise into piles by date/ country

If after 1960, can donate to Oxfam or contact Stamp Active (charity to teach young kids how to collect)

Support Clutterers anonymous

Tennis rackets British heart foundation

Towels Vets and horse stables

Unrecyclable https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB  e.g pens, coffee capsules

Xrays and mri scans Return to recycle at the hospital, radiology dept. to extract the silver

These tips have been collated from various sources over the past years, it’s always best to double check any websites for more up to date information.

Emotions and possessions

Our emotional relationship with objects is vast, the studies of how we relate to our things is widely discussed. Let’s narrow this by considering our possessions. From clothes to cleaning products and books to beauty products and souvenirs. We see our things all the time: they surround us, we use them, maybe admire them, maybe they make us annoyed or irritated and maybe they feel weighty. In the process of decluttering, we’re suddenly forced to take decisions over them, what do we keep/ get rid of/ put aside? It’s a personal and introspective journey, few people can decide except yourself, although a declutterer/organiser supports you to take your decisions. It can be a stressful experience: perhaps the decision-making is difficult in itself, perhaps the reasons for it in the first place are painful. Some of my clients have high stress levels and feel anxious because they’re in a house move, a career change, a relocation, or they’ve lost a loved one.

Marie Kondo (2014) did not underestimate the power of holding a possession in one’s hand. The emotions triggered by touching something (or ‘contamination’ in Belk, 1988: 140) can tell us how we really feel about it. For example, a client came across an item that had been given to them by a close family member who had died a year before. It was an immediate and visceral reaction that connected them to that person as feelings flooded back. We can clearly see how “dealing with things always means dealing with relationships” (Beck 2016: 127). Holding an item is a tactile and tangible practice, I don’t think it matters if it’s a lamp, a necklace, or a teapot, we are all emotionally connected to our belongings.

In the professional decluttering world, we can use the following analogy or personification to help people take difficult decisions: is the item a close friend, a neighbour or an acquaintance? It provides clarity for when decisions become too emotional and allows some perspective — not all the items in your home can be your good friends! What about the items that are aspirational? Those that you seek to define yourself with. The magimix that will transform your cooking skills à la Nigella; the power leggings that will finally make you exercise daily; magic face creams; beer-making sets… some of these you might have and use, great. Others gather dust. The aspirationals — like gifts — are a strange category and difficult to let go of because they bring up guilty emotions, nagging feelings of failure or regret. Despite their physicality, these items feel intangible: they’re hard to pin down as ‘friend, neighbour or acquaintance’ and even whether they will become one in the future. When we don’t see ourselves in them, they’re easier to get rid of (LaBranche 1973 in Belk 1988: 143), but the ‘just in cases’ are difficult. We can see the parallels here with museum professionals’ complex decisions over de-accessioning parts of public collections for whatever reasons (for more on this topic, see Jenny Durrant, also our collaborative blog on Disposals). In our own contexts of possessions at home, if they give off negative vibes, I suggest thinking really hard about whether, realistically, they will be used by your present or future self. Remain cautious of the ‘I would be happy if I could just have… (Belk 1988: 147). And if you can’t see their future, maybe someone just around the corner is getting ready to embark on a home-made beer project.

Clients find it easier to declutter their possessions when they know they can go to a good home. One client stores a box for the things she will give to people she already has in mind. When the box is empty, she calls me, and we start again with a new series of sessions. Texting photos for family and/or friends is an effective way of starting the process of getting them out of the house. I’ve seen many clients say ‘goodbye’ out loud to their possessions. Perhaps the more emotionally connected, the more desperately we want it to bring the same joy to others, akin to a gift that brings the elation we hope it will. Ingrid Samuel has referred to the term “losing well” (in MacDonald, Morgan, Fredheim, 2020: 219). Other systems work where face-to-face exchange with the new owner can give a little dopamine hit (such as through Olio, Facebook marketplace, ebay…) and there are local charity shops, recycling centres or table sales. The sense of satisfaction that comes from something now having a new and a good home can help to counteract any feelings of regret. On this note, there is also the sense of quiet that accompanies reducing possessions in the home. Have their absences now created empty aesthetic spaces? I return to the topic of absences in a later blog. We’ve all seen the tiktoks that proclaim a new feeling of calmness, and I do witness this regularly in my clients’ homes. Some people connect this with interior décor, for me personally it’s about not being surrounded by possessions that are not emotionally valuable and more a question of whether you feel that the possessions in your home are ‘noisy’ or are affecting you negatively.

I like this idea of emotionally ‘noisy’ and ‘quiet’ possessions. We are diverse though and our combined collections of objects are unique to us whatever purpose they serve. A study carried out by Muster et al. (2022: 13) in Berlin showed that the overwhelming response given for keeping items in the home was ‘Joy and pleasure’ (15%). Second and third came usage and convenience, then followed ‘Appearance’ (8%) and ‘Memorable value’ (8%). An object can be noisy for one person but if it works for you, keep it! Similarly, a possession can make you feel sad, it doesn’t have to bring you joy for you to keep it either. In an ideal world, it shouldn’t make you feel fed up though.

Our emotional connections to our possessions are incredibly important. They act as triggers to memories, threads to our families and friends and they bring comfort. My local train station has a new billboard for the charity ‘ageuk’. In large font it questions “Why do we look after old objects, not older people?”. It makes a valid point, which I see and support, but I’m also grappling with it, because I think objects and people are emotionally vested in each other and cannot be disassociated. I’m not sure what a possession is without its human connection, and I find it fascinating that certain possessions become increasingly valued and treasured as one gets older (see Belk 1988 again for more extensive discussions on this).

REFS:

Beck, Petra (2016) in MacDonald, Morgan, Fredheim ‘Heritage Futures’ (2020: 161)

Belk, Russell (1988) ‘Possessions and the Extended Self’

Durrant, Jenny (2024: 103) ‘Humanising collections disposal’ in Collections Management as Critical Museum Practice (ed. Krmpotich, C. and Stevenson, A.)

Muster, Iran, Munsch (2022) ‘The cultural practice of decluttering […]’